


Keep Your Eyes on the Stars and Your Feet on the Ground

by rosecrayon



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Doctor Clarke, Engineer Raven, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pilot Raven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecrayon/pseuds/rosecrayon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke and Raven have been dating for the last three and a half years.  They have been through it all together.  Raven is an engineer and pilot for Ark Industries and Clarke is a trauma surgeon at the nearby hospital.  The two have great jobs and each other and their 4 year anniversary is just couple weeks away.  What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Clarke made her way through her apartment to hear the sounds of heavy metal drowning the space coming from the far room on the right down the hallway. She dropped her bags and keys on the kitchen counter before she went to investigate.   
Clarke knocked before entering although she knew that it would fail to get a reaction. Slowly opening the door, Clarke peaked in hoping not to startle Raven. When they moved into this apartment, a year and a half ago, the extra room was split as a shop for Raven and a studio for Clarke. Right now she found Raven propped up on a stool leaning over some kind of hunk of metal. She was barefoot, which Clarke hated because of the metal materials Raven commonly worked with. Her hands black with grease making it clear she had been in the shop for a while now. She had a towel over her should, but it was still clean. Clarke knew better than to disturb her in this kind of concentration so she snuck back out of the room without being noticed and went to take a shower.

When she got out the music was still blaring. Clarke made her way to the kitchen to make start dinner for the two of them leaving Raven in her zone for the time being. Twenty minutes later, as the chicken was in the oven and Clarke was prepping a salad, the music was turned off and shortly after the brunette made her way into the room. She came around to the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Clarke’s waist burying her head in the blonde’s shoulder.

“How long have you been home?”

“I don’t know an hour and a half?”

“You should have interrupted me.”

“You looked like you were in deep concentration and it seemed to be the project you were stuck on last week. I didn’t want to interrupt.” Clarke turned in Raven’s arms and wrapped hers around the brunette’s neck. She pulls on her neck to bring Raven in for a kiss. “Hi.”

“Hi, to you too. How was your day?”

“Long, but not bad. Back to back surgeries, but luckily no complications. How about your day?”

“Fine. Sorry, I was planning on making dinner tonight, but kind of got caught up in the shop.” Raven quickly got out changing the subject.

Clarke kissed her again, “It’s not a problem, I figured you needed some time. The chicken will be done here shortly and I am almost done with the salad. Why don’t you go and clean up, it will be on the table by the time you are done?”  
Raven pulled Clarke in for another kiss, this one a little longer and then left the kitchen to make her way down the hallway to the bedroom.

When Raven reappeared, her wet hair was tied up in a bun and she had on a pair of baggy gray sweatpants along with a loose white tank top. The food was plated at the table and Clarke was just finishing up some of the kitchen clean up about to sit down.   
They took their seats and started to dig in. It started in silence with the only talking being compliments about the food. After the almost 4 years they have been together, they have grown accustomed to comfortable silence when it was needed. Raven had quickly finished her meal, making Clarke question if she had eaten all day as she tended to forget meals when she was in the shop. Raven cleared her own plate and returned to the table while Clarke finished her meal. She scooted the chair closer to the blonde and entwined their legs as she sat back down. She leaned over and rest her head on her hands on the table while tilting towards Clarke to watch as she ate. Clarke could sense that something was bothering Raven, but knew better than try and get her to talk. Raven would tell her, but on her own time. Instead, she started rubbing circles on Raven’s back with her free had as she finished her meal. Clarke cleaned up her plate and came back to Raven who was still at the table with her head down.

“Come on, babe, let’s go to bed and watch a movie.”

“Okay,” Raven said as she got up and took the hand Clarke offered and lead her to the bedroom. They both went through their nightly routines ending with Clarke putting a movie in, and they both made it to the bed. Raven curled into Clarke’s shoulder as the movie started. She started to trace patterns into the blonde’s stomach as the movie started. 

Clarke kissed the brunette’s hair, “What are you working on in the shop?” Clarke was hoping that some benign questioning may eventually lead to what is actually bothering Raven.

“It’s the project I started last week.”

“Is it for work?”

“No.”

“Did you get it finished? It would have been great way to end your week.”

“Not quite yet. I just have some minor tweaking to do before I can get it to function completely.”

“You didn’t even mention how was work today.” Clarke inquired. It wasn’t as subtle as she hoped, but she just wanted to get to the reason why Raven was acting this way.

“Mmmmm.” Raven hummed into Clarke’s shoulder without turning to look at the blonde.

“What happened?”

“You know how my team is rebuilding those old modeled planes with the new lighter material to make them easier to fly, state of the art, and cost effective?”

“Yeah. You’ve spent over 2 years designing and building it. I’m so proud of you.” Clarke said as she squeezed the brunette a little closer and lowering so she could have her lips meet Raven’s temple.

“Well it has been amazing, and we are just about to start the testing phase which is going to see if all of work will pay off.”

“Okay. So shouldn’t you be excited?”

“I was…” Raven deeply sighed and tried to turn a little away from her girlfriend. “That was until I wasn’t cleared to participate in any of the flight tests.”

“WHAT?!” Clarke blurted before Raven could continue. Clarke turned so she was now face to face with Raven “WHY NOT? Do I have to go down there myself and dropkick someone?”

Raven smiled a little after Clarke’s very protective side showed up. “We had to take our physicals today and I have a heart murmur that will keep me grounded for all of the tests.”

“What? Is this a new murmur? We should take you into the hospital! I will call our cardio surgeon and get you in tomorrow.” Clarke went to grab her phone, when Raven stopped her.

“No need for that. I have always had it. It was first detected when I was ten, but it has always been under control and it has never stopped me from doing anything. That is until today.” Raven paused before Clarke nodded for her to keep going, “Apparently the risk of me actually flying and controlling the planes with the murmur is too great of health risk for Ark to take.” 

“It wasn’t a problem when you were testing for NASA and it is government controlled.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t actually piloting them for NASA, here I would be.”

“Oh, Raven, I am so sorry.” Clarke leaned in and gave her a deep kiss as it was obvious that Raven was now struggling to hold back tears. “I know how much you were looking forward to the flights and the testing.”

Raven was now struggling and couldn’t respond. A tear fell and Clarke immediately wiped it away as she pulled Raven down so the brunette’s head curled into her neck. “Come here, babe. You are perfect just the way you are.”

Eventually Raven’s breathing evened out and Clarke knew she had finally fallen asleep. She knew that after the day and then working most of the night in the shop the brunette had to be exhausted. Clarke flipped off the movie without disturbing Raven and she too eventually found sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated. Things move forward between Clarke and Raven.
> 
> Its been hard for me to figure out chapter endings as i wrote a good majority of this story together. So it is either a cliffhanger or a weird ending point. I chose cliffhanger this time.

Monday arrived quicker than Raven wanted. She had spent most of the weekend after being grounded in the shop while Clarke had to work all of Saturday and Sunday morning. When she got home in the afternoon on Sunday, Raven had made dinner and ensured Clarke was properly fed because she knew the testing this week on top of the blonde’s surgery schedule was going to make their time together scarce. It was a nice evening preceding the hectic week for the couple.

  
Raven arrived at work a few minutes early and ended up walking in with her best friend Harper, who was to be a flight navigator for the new plane. They made her way down the main hallway into the side offices that were used as more or less lockers due to most of the work being done in the control room in the building next door.

  
Raven and Harper had desks next to each other and had started to drop off their belongings and collecting their work items needed for the day.

  
“Hey, are you going to Grounder’s this weekend?” Grounders was the local club Raven and her friends frequented when they all had time. “Clarke has the weekend off and I think she could use a night to let loose a little.”

  
“Sounds like a good time to me. I will have to ask Zoe, but I think she will want to go out.” Zoe Monroe and Harper had been together for almost 2 years now.

  
“Sweet.”

“Are you excited for the test flights on Friday?” Harper had been looking forward to the test flights just as much as her best friend and knew they were going to end well.

“Ummm… Yeah for sure.” Raven looked down and made herself busy shuffling papers in folders so that she didn’t look at Harper directly.

“That didn’t sound to convincing there. Do you think they aren’t going to go very well?”

“Not that at all. I think it is going to go great because, well, I designed it.” Raven confidently said as she started to make her way out of the office as Harper joined her to the hallway.

“Glad to see you are still humble about it, but I am surprised by your lack of enthusiasm.”

Raven pulled Harper aside in a small nook in the hallway. “Listen, I am grounded from all the flights.”

“WHAT?” Harper gasped. “How?”

“It’s the heart murmur.” Harper and Raven had been friends since they worked together at NASA and Harper knew about Raven’s heart issue because it was in her flight folder as a side note.

“That doesn’t make sense, NASA knew about it and it didn’t stop you from doing anything there.”

“Oh, I know. Apparently because I would be piloting here at Ark it is more of risk than the light flight duties I did for NASA.” Raven was stunned when Harper pulled her into a bone crushing hug. It took Raven a second but she did wrap her arms around the other girl.

“I am so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It’s okay. Clarke has helped me this weekend and I am almost done with the project that I have been working on for her for our anniversary.”

Harper smiled, “She is going to love it.”

“I know. I made it.”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Come on we need to make it to this meeting.” The two went on into the room and started preparations for the afternoon’s simulation.

* * *

 

The simulation on Monday went off without a problem which put Raven in a much better mood. She got home before Clarke that night and she was hoping to get some cleaning and cooking done before the blonde arrived. Clarke had texted Raven during lunch time to saying that her morning surgery went from routine to very complicated and it pushed all her other surgeries back a couple of hours.

Raven was exhausted as her own day had lasted longer than anticipated, but still managed to do some cleaning of the living room and make a dinner for herself and packed up some leftovers for Clarke. Raven was hoping to stay up for Clarke, but she was starting to dose off on the couch. The brunette wrote a note and left it on the counter for her girlfriend. She then went back to the bedroom to crash for the night.  
Clarke didn’t make it back to her apartment until a little after midnight. Setting her bag on the floor next to the kitchen island she read the note from Raven who had made dinner and had leftovers for her in the refrigerator. She smiled and pulled the container out. Clarke hadn’t eaten since her five-minute lunch she scarfed down after the first surgery. She made quick work of the casserole and snuck back to take a quick shower hoping not to disturb her love.  
Twenty minutes later she climbed into bed as subtly as she could. Today was the first day back for Raven after finding out she was grounded and she knew all of her coworkers would find out including Harper.  
Clarke nestled behind Raven’s back and hung her arm around the brunette’s waist. She buried her head behind her girlfriend’s neck and dragged a kiss down her spine. This spurred a moan out of the sleeping girl.

“Hey.” A very sleepy voice dragged out.

“Shhhhhh… go back to sleep. We can talk tomorrow.” Clarke whispered.

“Mmhmm.” This drew a smile to the blonde’s face. After the enduring day she had which seemed to have complication after complication, all she wanted to do was curl up with Raven and go to sleep. So that is exactly what she did.  
Clarke woke up the next morning to Raven’s alarm going off. She didn’t need to be at the hospital until noon, so she could go back to sleep, but knew this was one of the few moments with Raven this week so she got up with her girlfriend.

Raven rolled over to face the blonde. “Good Morning.” She greeted with a long kiss.

“Good morning to you too.” Clarke got in before she deepened the kiss. They spent the next little while waking up together before they both agreed they needed to get out of bed. Raven went to the bathroom to take a shower as Clarke made her way to the kitchen to whip up a quick breakfast before Raven had to leave for work.

Eggs and some bacon where ready when the brunette made it to the table. Clarke put the plate down in front of her also going in for a kiss. She then took the seat next to her and dug in herself.

“How did the simulations go yesterday?”

“Great!” Raven’s face lit up. “There are just a few adjustments I have to make to the system and then a little body work and we will have it ready for the flight on Friday.”

“That’s great to hear! I bet Harper is also anxious to get the plane off the ground finally.”

“Oh for sure! It wouldn’t surprise me if she was flying simulations in her dreams right now.” Raven giggled. “I also asked her and Monroe to go out to Grounders this weekend. I know you have the weekend off and we won’t be able to see each other this week, but I thought you may want to have the night out with us.”

“Absolutely! I haven’t seen them in so long.” Clarke fit right into Raven’s friend group when they started dating almost 4 years ago. “You don’t have to work on Saturday after the testing on Friday?”

“I may have to go in early if things don’t go well, which may move plans with Harper, but if it goes as planned, all the tweaks can be pushed to Monday.” Raven explained. “Hey how did your day go after the morning surgery. I know that had complications, but did it go well the rest of the day?”

Clarke sighed. “After the morning debacle, I barely had enough time to down a PB&J and rush off to all the others I had to push back. Then Nyko was stuck in surgery as new traumas came in so I ended up with an extra couple surgeries before I left. It didn’t end well. A car wreck. We lost 3 of the 4 people who came through our doors.”

Raven put her hand on the blonde’s cheek. “Why didn’t you say anything last night? I could have stayed up with you.”

“I was too exhausted to even try to explain everything to you. I just wanted to fall asleep holding you. So you did exactly what I wanted from you. Also, I knew you had to wake up this morning.”

“Okay. I am glad I could help…” She leaned in and kissed the blonde, but gave her a worried glance. “But you know you can wake me up any time if you need to talk or if you just need me, right?”

“Of course. I just was too tired to even try and talk about my feelings last night.” She leaned in for a longer kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Raven responded smiling. “I will see you… tomorrow morning?” She immediately pouted.

“Yeah, I know, but just look forward to Saturday!” Clarke was trying to be positive even though she knew her time with Raven was going to be extremely limited in the coming days.  
Raven collected her things and made her way out the door with a last peck on the lips with the blonde. Clarke cleaned up the kitchen poured herself another cup of coffee and made her way to the studio. She still had a couple of hours before she needed to be back at the hospital so she was going to use the time to make some headway on her anniversary gift for Raven.

The next two days pass with both of the women working long hours. Clarke was on 12 hour shifts both Wednesday and Thursday. Raven was staying late to double and triple check that everything was in place for the testing on Friday.  
Raven had started packing her things to leave Thursday evening when her boss, Anya, walked in.

“Raven, are you ready?”

“Yes, I have double checked everything and everything is set to go for tomorrow.” Raven responded. She had great respect for Anya as she has built the Ark from the ground up and it was now the night before their biggest flights.

“Good. You will be flying it tomorrow.”

“What?” Raven stood shocked. “Ma’am, I failed my physical. My heart mur-“

“-Has not caused you any health problems in the past. NASA felt it was safe for you to fly. I am overriding the ruling of you being grounded. You are flying that plane tomorrow. I can’t have my best engineer and pilot on the ground. You are the one who basically built that plane. You need to be the one who flies it.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Raven was dumbfounded. This was all she had been working for, the chance to fly the plane she had redesigned. It was going to happen now.

“Just say thank you and show up tomorrow ready to fly.”

“Uh… Thank you!” With that Anya left the room leaving a smiling Raven at her cubicle. She was going to see out her dream. She was going to fly the plane of her dreams.

* * *

 

“Clarke?” Raven slipped in the apartment door. All the lights were out except the light coming from the television in the living room. “Clarke, are you here?” Raven made her way to the living room to find her girlfriend curled up on the couch asleep with the Food Network on the TV.

The brunette leaned down so they were face to face. “Hey Clarke, let’s get up and go to bed,” She whispered trying not to scare her as she slowly opened one eye.

“Hey, babe.” The blonde yawns and stretches her arms over her head and then around Raven’s neck. She brings her in and presses her lips against the brunette’s. “I really was trying to stay up until you got home. I am just so tired.”

“It’s alright, come on let’s go to bed. It is a big day tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She mumbled as she slowly rose from the couch. She took the hand Raven offered and followed her back to bed. Clarke fell into bed as Raven started shuffling around the room getting ready for bed.

“Everything ready for tomorrow.”

“Yep. As much as it can be. Things changed a little this evening, but it is going to be alright.”

“What changed?” Clarke said almost asleep face down in her pillow.

“Oh, they are letting me fly tomorrow.” Raven casually mentioned while putting on a loose shirt before climbing into bed.

“Mmmm.” Clarke started before the news had really sunk in. She then bolted into a sitting position facing Raven. “I am going to need to you say that again because it sounded like you said that you are flying tomorrow.”  
Raven chuckled, “I am flying tomorrow.”

“RAVEN! You could’ve lead with that when you walked in the door. That is awesome! Why did they change their minds?”

“Well, Anya reviewed my file after she found out that I was grounded. It showed that I had no ill effects from the murmur and that NASA had cleared me. Also, she mentioned she couldn’t have her best and brightest engineer grounded during the most important tests.”

Clarke gets up and straddles the brunette’s hips. She pulls her face to her and gives her a deep kiss. Raven goes to pull away, but Clarke just deepens the kiss even more, leans her back so the blonde is now completely on top of the engineer. After a few minutes pulls back and looks into her brown eyes.

“Raven, I am so proud of you. I love you so much and I am so happy for you.”

“I love you too. I am so excited, but I don’t think it has really sunk in that I am actually going to get to fly tomorrow.”

Clarke started peppering kisses all over Raven’s face. “Hey, Raven.”

“What?”

“You get to fly tomorrow.” The brunette smiled and kissed the love of her life.

* * *

 

Raven woke up snuggled into Clarke’s shoulder. It was still an hour before her alarm was set to go off, but she was up and awake now. She lightly left some soft kisses to Clarke’s bare shoulder before sliding out of her arms. She found a pair of shorts and tank top to slip into and made her way to the kitchen.

The smell of bacon and eggs drew Clarke out of her slumber. She rolled over and felt the empty, cold side of the bed. Stretching her arms above her head, Clarke let out a long yawn and climbed out. She had made her way down the hallway towards the smell of breakfast. Raven was scrambling the eggs with a piece of bacon hanging from her mouth.

“Good Morning.” Clarke spoke as she entered the kitchen.

Raven looked up with a smile spreading across her face. She finished off the piece of bacon in her mouth. “Good morning to you to. I had a great night last night.”

“Me too,” Clarke whispered as she brought her lips to her girlfriends. “I should be making this for your big day today, not the other way around.”

“I woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep so I thought I would make you breakfast because I don’t know when I will be home after the tests today.”

“How are you feeling about today,” Clarke asked.

“I feel confident that everything with the plans will work out fine. I just didn’t prep as a pilot but as a grounds crew member so I hope that doesn’t cause a riff or a problem.”

“You will be fine. Everyone there loves you. They couldn’t stop talking about you at the employee picnic last year. You won’t have a problem,” Clarke reassured her.   The two sat down and enjoyed breakfast. Clarke cleaned up after the meal was over so Raven could go get ready for work. She didn’t have be at the hospital until midday so she cleaned up kitchen and tidied up as the brunette got ready.

Raven made her way back to the living room picking up all the things she needed for work. She was dressed in tight jeans and a flowy red top. Her hair was straightened and down around her shoulders. She didn’t put much work into her look as she knew that once she got to work it she was changing into a jumpsuit and her hair will be up and in a helmet. Her nerves had really started to kick in when she was getting ready and girlfriend noticed. Raven was fumbling with her phone and keys on the couch when Clarke came up and sat on the coffee table to face her. She grabbed the keys and phone from Raven’s hands setting them on the table next to her while also meeting the brown eyes. Raven finally released the breath she didn’t know she was holding in.

“Hey, you are going to kick ass today. You are the best engineer they have and you have nothing to be nervous about.” Clarke reassured her girlfriend. Raven let go of the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in and nodded back at the blue eyed girl.

“Thanks.” She smiled back. “I can do this.”

“YES!”

Clarke stood up, pulling Raven up with her. The blonde wraps her arms around Raven’s neck. The brunette’s hands grip the hem of Clarke’s shirt at her waist. She pulls in and gives a deep kiss.

“I’ve got to go.” She pulls in for one more kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, my engineering genius.” They walked to the door and Clarke gave a little wave as Raven left.

Clarke pulled out her phone and called her best friend. “Hey O, want to meet for coffee this morning… Great. I will see you then.”

Clarke had already sat down with her coffee when Octavia greeted her as she approached the table. Clarke got up and wrapped her best friend in a hug. “Hey!”

“Hi. How are you doing?” Clarke asked as she returned to her seat and Octavia took the seat across from her.

“I’m good. I am just finishing up a major project and it could put me in line for the executive promotion which would put me in charge of fifty more people,” Octavia started as her face brightened up. “I have to do the presentation next week.”

“O, that is huge! Why didn’t you tell me before?” Clarke was extremely happy for her best friend. Octavia was a project manager at an up and coming PR firm in DC. This promotion would put her in meetings with some of the biggest names in town.

“I am really excited! How about you? I haven’t heard from you all week. I am assuming that you have been at the hospital?” Octavia used this time to change the subject because she knows that Clarke didn’t have her come to coffee to talk about her promotion.

“The other trauma surgeon is out on vacation this week and so I have had to pick up a bunch of extra shifts to cover for him,” Clarke started. “I have to go in for a 12 hour shift at noon.” She looks down at her watch. It is only a little after ten right now. She wondered what time Raven’s flights would be happening. The blonde pulls out her phone and shoots Raven an encouraging text even though she knows she won’t read it until everything is done for the day.

“Sorry, just shooting Rae a text.” Octavia noticed that Clarke’s face was serious.

“No problem, how is that snarky genius of yours.” This brightens Clarke’s face as a smile grows on her face.

“She is great! Today is the big day they are testing the new plane prototype out at the base.” Clarke’s eyes went to her phone even though she knew that there wasn’t going to be a new message.

“That’s right! I know she was bummed that she was grounded, but those are her designs and it is a huge deal for her.”

“Yep. Except here is the thing she isn’t grounded.” Clarke looked away at the wall behind Octavia before returning to meeting her eyes. Clarke took a breath, “Anya, her boss, overrode her medical grounding and she is flying the plane today. She was too important to keep grounded over something that even NASA didn’t ground her for.”

“Raven must be over the moon. She has always wanted to fly the plane that she has designed. I mean I guess this is a redesign, but still they are hers!” Octavia’s face lit up. Clarke smiled, but her eyes didn’t match the rest of her face. “What’s wrong. You know this is Rae’s dream.”

“Oh, I know and I am so fucking excited for her that I can barely contain it.”

“But… Your face is showing a different story.”

“But, Octavia, when she was still grounded, she was safe. I don’t like the idea of her flying untested planes.” Octavia knew there was a reason Clarke called her. She was scared for Raven.

“You didn’t tell her that, did you?” Raven wouldn’t have gone near the plane if she knew that Clarke was nervous or had any doubts about her flying the planes that day.

“Hell no!” Clarke would never have put those thoughts in Raven’s head before her going in. “I was very supportive. I couldn’t put those negative thoughts in her head. She has been working on these designs for years. She would have stayed grounded if she knew my worries. I couldn’t do that to her dreams.”

“Still doesn’t help your worry does it?”

“Not really.”

“Listen Raven is going to be fine. She is going to fly those planes and let me tell you she is the smartest fucking person I know on this planet so if she gets into any kind of trouble she is going to know how to fix it.”

“I guess you are right.”

“You’re damn right I am.” Clarke let out a little laugh at that. Octavia was right, Raven knew what she was doing despite the risks involved.

“Clarke, you are going to go to work and I bet by the time your shift is done, Raven will have called you looking to gloat at how awesome she is and how everyone else should bow down to her.”

“You’re right. I am overreacting. She is the best.”

“It’s alright to be nervous because it is a dangerous job. You just have to remember that Raven is literally one of the best in her field.” Octavia could see Clarke relax. “Now finish your drink, I will walk you to the hospital.”

“Thanks, O.” Clarke got up and was going to throw her cup away.

“Anytime.” They walked out the door together on their way to the hospital.

* * *

 

  
Raven got to work that morning at eight knowing the number of things going on today. She put all of her stuff down at her desk and headed to the lockerroom to change into her flight suit. Once in the jumps suit pulls her hair up into a messy bun, and walks out the door down the hall towards the conference room where she would brief the top staff what was going to be happening today.

Anya was the only one in the room and was sorting out papers at each seat for those who would be arriving soon. She looked up as Raven entered, “Good morning, Raven. You ready for today?”

“Oh yes. I have been ready for some time. Has there been any changes from what I sent you yesterday?” Raven asked wanting to make sure she was on the same page as her boss.

“Nope. This morning I will start the meeting going over the agenda for the day and then you will explain the plane and the crew needs for the flight today.”

“No problem, sounds good.” Raven took a seat towards the front of the room. She sat in silence as she reviewed the packet of information in front of her as Anya continued on with her tasks.

Ten minutes later, a group of people shuffled in finding a chair at the long table. After a couple more stragglers made their way in Anya stood up and the murmur of the conversations happening died down and turned focus to the blonde at the head of the table.

“Good morning everyone. As you know we are conducting the first test flights of the new planes in the Ark’s Polaris series. How it’s going to happen today is, the Ark Series 1 will get its first flight today.” Anya continued on with the rest of today’s agenda. By the looks of the schedule, the flights would be done by 5pm and Raven was hoping to be home by 8 to beat Clarke there. “Now I would like to bring up Raven Reyes, the pilot today, who will fill you in with more of the details of all the specifics on the plane.”  
Raven snapped out of the small day dream she caught herself in and made her way to the front of the room. After going over all the different schematics of the plane, she fielded questions the group had. She knew more than everyone about these airplanes. She was more than willing to share her knowledge, but she was very anxious to get in the cockpit and fly so she could validate all of the work put into it. She took the questions for almost 20 minutes before everyone in the room seemed satisfied enough with the information. Raven shook everyone’s hands as she left the room. Raven stopped at her desk to make sure she had everything she need for the day. She took a quick glance at her phone hoping Clarke had texted. She did.

**Clarke (10:13am): Hey I know you won’t get this, but you are the best and I know everything will end perfectly today. I love you. Xxxx**

Raven smiled to herself and quickly shot of a text to her girlfriend.

**Raven (11:14am): Just about to head down to the hangar! Thanks for all the support. I love you too.**

**Raven (11:14am): Also, I already know I am the best.**

She put her phone back in her bag and set it on her desk. She was about to go and fulfill her dream. She grabbed her bag of gear and her helmet and walked out to the shuttle that was taking them to the base about a mile away.  The shuttle ride was short, but necessary for those heading to the runway and hangar. She had laid out all the plans for the crew a couple of days ago and trusted everything would be on schedule for the day and she was not disappointed when the shuttle pulled up to the hangar. Raven stepped out of the smaller bus and was greeted by Harper.

  
“Raven all the system checks so far have been on target and ready to go. I just spoke with Maya at Mount Weather and conditions in the sky looks to be ideal for the tests we will be running today.” Harper then gave Raven a smile. “You ready Raven?”

Raven let out a small sigh, “Harper, I have never been more ready for anything in my life.”

Harper lets out a little laugh and the two girls walk through the open hangar doors towards the plane. Currently there was 3 people working on the outside finishing up some of the little details. The other mechanics are there and all wave or say hi to Raven as she makes her way over to the head mechanic, Lincoln. He is a very tall, darker early thirties man with a shaved head and a very little need to talk.

“Raven, everything is in order for the Polaris flights today. No indication there should be any issues with Polaris 1. You will be testing its state of the art window computer interface, the communications system, and the new prototype wings.” Lincoln knew Raven had designed all of this and didn’t need a rundown of the events happening today, but he wanted to reassure her than everything was on schedule as planned. “The first flight is scheduled for 1:15pm, so in just over an hour and a half from now. Is there anything you need from us prior to your flight?”

“Thank you Lincoln for all of the information. I don’t believe I need anything at the time from you,” Raven turns from the tall man back to the woman she had been walking with. “Harper, could you give me a printout of the latest weather information we have. I just want to see them all for myself and then it looks like we can hop in.”

“Yes, of course I will be right back.” Harper turned and walked through the doors in the back of the hangar.

Raven took a deep breath and walked over to Polaris 1 and taking a look at everything on the plane. The plane was similar to the F16 series, but smaller. The plane was relatively small compared to the things she helped fly at NASA, but it really didn’t matter. She would fly anything that can get off the ground. The rush and adrenaline gained from flying was nothing she could get from anything else. Except Clarke. Clarke is only thing on Earth that could keep her grounded. Her thoughts drifted to the blonde. Her eyes matched the sky, but looking into her blue was so much better than any blue Raven saw in the sky. These past almost four years were the best of her life and she couldn’t wait to share this with her girlfriend. The Clarke train of thought was broken when Harper returned with the information she wanted. After review, Raven was satisfied with the information and it looked like it was going to be a perfect day to fly.

Raven looked at Harper, “You ready to roll?”

Harper nodded. “You bet.”

The two grabbed their gear and headed for the cockpit. They fell into their old habits going through all of their check lists. Raven was double and triple checking everything for the communications and the state of the art interface as they were necessary for Harper to navigate. The time came and they started to taxi out of the hangar. Raven got to the last turn and they were cleared to takeoff. She made the last turn.

“Let’s do this.” She took a breath and gunned it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light angst with what is planned for the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lateness of this. I had it written, but honestly just got my creativity drive back to edit it and post. All mistakes are mine so I apologize for those.

It was pushing 1 in the morning when Clarke had finally made it out of her last surgery. She made it to the locker room and changed out of her scrubs into the jeans and a plain white v-neck shirt she had on in the morning.  Grabbing her phone from the top shelf she checked for messages.  She had two from Octavia and one from her mom.  Nothing from Raven. Clarke took a deep breath and reminded herself if something went bad she would have been notified.

Nyko walked in the room and approached. they couldn’t possibly pull her into another surgery she thought.  Her shift had just ended and had hoped to be out the door in the next 3 minutes.

“Hey, Clarke, you are needed in the lobby.  Something about the last surgery you performed needs to be double checked.”

“Thanks, Nyko, I will head down there.”

Nyko smiled, “Goodnight, Clarke.”

“See you later, Nyko.”

Grabbing her black leather jacket, Clarke picked up her bag and headed for the lobby.  On the elevator, she pulled out her phone and tried to give Raven a call.  It went straight to voicemail. When she reached the first floor, the doors opened and she took the right to head down the hallway to the main lobby.  The last surgery was pretty open and close so it seemed unusual there would be a problem.  When she turned the final corner she dropped her bag at the sight of her girlfriend.  Her shoulders drop and all she feels is relief.

Raven approached her girlfriend who was obviously surprised and relieved to see her.  Handing over the flowers in her hand, the brunette lifted Clarke’s chin and gave her a kiss.  The blonde relaxed into the kiss. Raven pulled away and looked into those blue eyes.  It was clear that Clarke couldn’t talk.  She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pulled her tight also being aware of the flowers between them.  Octavia was right, Clarke was holding in her worries about her flying.  She would never tell her girlfriend about her talk she had with Octavia this evening after receiving slightly alarming texts from her friend.

“I haven’t heard from you all day.” Clarke stuttered out into Raven’s shoulder.

“My phone had died after I made it back to the office. I thought I would come and surprise you because I knew you got out at midnight.  Once I got here the nurses said you were in surgery so I went down stairs to the gift shop for the flowers,” quickly replied.

“You have been here since midnight? You must be exhausted.”

“Well I have actually been here since 11:15. I left work at about 10:45, but I made some friends at the nurses’ station.  I didn’t expect the surgery to last that long,” she replied looking at her watch which was now telling her it was after 1am.

“Let’s go home. I want to hear everything about today. Seeing you means it couldn’t have gone too badly.”

Raven leans in for a kiss, “Let’s go. Come with me, we can get your car in the morning.” She offers her hand to Clarke who smiles and immediately takes it to be lead to the parking lot.  They walked in comfortable silence until they arrived at Raven’s car.

Raven opens the passenger door allowing for Clarke to get in, “M’lady.”

“And people say chivalry is dead.”  Raven giggled and shut the door after Clarke was comfortable.  She then walks around the car, gets in, and starts it.  Before pulling out of the parking lot she turns and smiles to Clarke.

“I love you, Clarke.” She took the blonde’s hand and brought it to her lips to kiss.

Clarke gives her hand a squeeze, “I love you too, Raven.” She pulls their hands onto her lap after Raven puts the car in gear to drive away.  Once the leave the hospital grounds, Clarke was ready to hear about the testing.

“Raven, how did it go today? You don’t seem overly ecstatic and you were there late.  Did something go wrong?” Clarke had an inkling they didn’t go as planned as soon as she saw the brunette at the hospital. Also, if they went according to the books, Raven would have been over the moon about it already.

“The new wings are insanely awesome and work great! It is such a smoother ride with them.  The computer interface had some glitches, but overall it was working like it is supposed to. I will just have to tweak some of the hardware in the plane itself to fix the problems.  The communications system is another story.”  Raven kept her eyes on the road, but felt Clarke squeeze her hand.

“What happened?” Clarke was worried now.  Raven would normally sugar coat things to keep the dangerous stuff away from her.  She had a feeling this time was different.

“Takeoff was great.  Plane got up to cruising speed and altitude perfectly.  Conditions couldn’t have been better for flying today.  We did a bunch of maneuvers to test the wings first to see their capabilities.  It was great.  Also did work for the interface as Harper had navigated for a good part of the time on it.  Then when in glitched the first time about an hour into the test it caused the communications to go haywire. I lost contact with the ground and I could only make out every third word from Harper.” Raven sighed.  It was a long day after that. “We doubled back to the base. We did a couple of fly by to signal we lost communications.  Then we landed.  I had been working since 4 on fixing it, but I was so tired, it was useless after a while.”

Clarke squeezed her hand, but didn’t know how to offer support after finding out how dangerous today really was for her girlfriend.  Clarke fell silent.

“Harper was a little shook about it because after it sent the comms down, the navigation was glitching, but she managed to keep it up and she had flown the area so many times, it was probably the best place it could have gone down if it had.”

“And how are you feeling after all of this?” Clarke questioned. If Harper was a little shook up, she needed to know how Raven felt after all of this went down.

“I have been a little jittery all evening after the adrenaline kick it gave me.  I am mad at myself because it is my fault it all went wrong. Anya gave it to me a little bit after we came back. She wants the best and that wasn’t me today,” Raven was exhausted and she just wanted to go home and sleep, but it was doubtful much sleep was going to happen for her tonight. “Anya has moved back the next testing date by a least a week from the scheduled date.  We are looking at two weeks to make fixes now.”

“Okay. What do you need from me? Are you going into work tomorrow?” Clarke wanted to make sure Raven was going to get this right.  She had to.

“I am not going to go in tomorrow.  I can do some work at home from my computer.  I am going to review the data we collected and see if I can find something there.” Raven glanced at Clarke at a stop light. “We are going to go out tomorrow night. We both need it. I don’t know what I am going into on Monday and you have a full weekend off.  Let’s go home and go to bed. Tomorrow… well I guess, today, is a new day.”

The couple made it home.  Too tired to do much more than their routine, they ended up in bed shortly after arriving home.  It had been comfortable silence since their arrival.  Clarke flips the TV on for some light noise and climbed into bed.

Raven curled into Clarke’s embrace.  The blonde’s hands started lightly brushing through the brunette hair and gently kissed the top of her head.  Raven slipped a hand under the hem of Clarke’s tank top and mindlessly traced circles on her stomach. She flinched a little because the older girl’s hand was cold. It made the brunette giggle and snuggle closer and tighten the blankets over them.

Raven knew she wasn’t going to sleep well, but wanted to stay until Clarke fell asleep.  She figured she would use her energy to do some work on her anniversary gift. Another 20 minutes later and she was starting to feel Clarke’s breathing even out. Raven waited a little longer just to make sure she was asleep.

“Raven, are you going to sleep?” The voice startled Raven as she thought Clarke was nearing sleep.

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay, so let’s get up. I am assuming you were going to head to the shop for some work when I fell asleep.”

“Yeah…”

“So, let’s get up. You can work and I will paint.” She started to move a little to get them both up.

“No, you should sleep.”  
“Raven, get up we are going to the studio.” Clarke had gotten out of bed and pulled Raven’s hand to get her up as well.

“Okay.”  Raven let herself be lead into the spare room. Clarke flips on the light as they enter.  Clarke’s paintings are covered on the right side of the room with sheets scattered over the room to keep the spill mess to a minimum.  Raven’s workbench was set up on the left with a couple of heavy lamps that hung above it for extra light if needed.  Raven shut the door behind them.  Clarke pulled her arm in tight and wrapped her arms around Raven’s neck.  The brunette reached around and hugged her girlfriend’s waist.  They stood there a moment before Clarke whispered in her ear.

“Raven, I love you and am here anytime you need to talk.  I will be right there painting. Go ahead and start working.  Your headphones are in the second drawer of your bench.” It was a little late to be blasting heavy metal in the house and Raven knows Clarke doesn’t like it when she is painting at the same time.

“Thanks. Don’t peek because it may or may not be a present for you.”

“The same goes for you.” They pulled away from the hug and went to their different sides of the room.  Being as it was almost 2:30 in the morning Clarke was too tired to work on the anniversary painting so she took it off the easel with the cover still over it and set it in the corner.  She pulled out an empty canvas and a set of paints to start something new. Raven sat down, pulled out her headphones, and got right to work with tinkering.  Clarke could hear a slight beat and guitar riffs from the headphones, but most of the sound was caused by the metal Raven was working with.

They worked in the existing silence for almost an hour when Clarke hit a wall. She could barely focus.  Slipping out of the studio without Raven noticing, she made her way down to the kitchen to make a couple cups of cocoa for them.  After they were made, the blonde carried them back to the studio.  The door was still cracked open from when she left, using her shoulder she backed into the room.  The movement obviously startled Raven as a wrench hit the floor a gasp came from the older girl.

Clarke hadn’t quite turned all the way to face the brunette yet, when she had realized she scared her. “Hey, sorry! I just made us some--” She immediately was at Raven’s side when she noticed the tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?” Clarke asked as she set the cups down on the workbench. Raven pulled her headphones to around her neck.

“Yeah, sorry.” Her face was cupped by Clarke’s hands as her thumbs rubbed her cheeks.

“Don’t be sorry, what’s going on?”

“Clarke, do you want me flying?” Raven was blunt, but after her short conversation with Octavia she needed to hear it directly from Clarke. The blonde stopped rubbing her thumbs and moving her hands to Raven’s thighs as she was still squatting in front of her.

“What? It is your dream! All you have ever wanted to do was fly planes Raven.” Clarke had no idea where that question came from.  Was she not hiding her worries well enough?

“I didn’t ask why I am flying. I asked if you want me flying. You are the most supportive person in the entire world, but I couldn’t help but notice your reaction to what happened.” Raven looked up to meet the blue eyes.  She never got them.

Clarke was looking down at her hands rubbing the other girl’s legs. The next words needed to be thought out. No she didn’t want her flying because of exactly what happened today.  Even though she knows how prepared they were, things went wrong.  But, this opportunity was Raven’s dream and has been what her entire career has been leading up to at this point.  She couldn’t be the reason Raven didn’t follow through with this.  How was she going to voice her concerns without making it seem like she was trying to ground her girlfriend?

“Raven, can you promise me you will listen to everything I have to say?” Can’t hurt to make sure they are on the same page with this conversation.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Do I wish you weren’t flying? Yes. I would be lying to you if I said otherwise,” Clarke started.  She was looking right into her lover’s eyes. “This does not mean I want you sitting at a desk because I know it would kill you to sit there and not be in the sky.  I am scared shitless every time I know you are heading to work and getting on a plane. I am, also, relaxed knowing it is you flying that plane because I know that you are the most talented, smartest, and ingenious person on this planet. So if anything did go wrong you would be the one person who could fix it. It also means that you are going to do everything possible to make sure you walk back through the front door each night.”  Clarke was face to face with the brunette again.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because you were grounded.  You were devastated when you got medically grounded.  When you said that you were cleared, I couldn’t cause you that pain again when it wasn’t necessary,” This was more information than she has ever shared on the topic. “Raven, I can’t be the reason you are grounded. I can handle a little worry if you are literally achieving your dreams.” Clarke was beginning to hold back her own tears.

“Clarke, tell me.” Raven whispered. “Tell me to stay on the ground.”

“Never!” Clarke choked shaking her head.

“Clarke you tell me to stay on the ground and I will stay here on Earth.”

“That is the exact reason I will never tell you to stay on the ground.  You were born to be in the sky,” Clarke assured her girlfriend.  They sat in silence for a while.  Raven needed to process everything that Clarke has told her. Squeezing the hands on her thighs, her shoulders slumped over.  Exhaustion took over her body and all she could think about was sleep.

“Clarke, can we go to bed?” Raven rubbed up and down Clarke’s arms.

“Of course, babe.” Clarke moved to get up and was stopped by Raven’s hands on her shoulders.  Raven leaned in to press their lips together.  Clarke releases the breath she was holding in.  Clarke raised her hands and gently placed them on Raven’s shoulders giving them a rub. “Come on.”

Abandoning the now cold cups of cocoa, they left the studio and returned to their bedroom for the evening. They slid back into the rustled sheets.  Wrapping around Clarke’s back, Raven left light kisses down her neck.

“Tell me next time,” Raven murmured, “tell me when you have doubts, I want to know even if you are okay, I want to know.”

Clarke turns to face her girlfriend and slides her hand on Raven’s face. “Yes.  I will.” She pulls Raven in for a long kiss. “Goodnight, babe,” she buries her head into Raven’s chest.

“Goodnight.” It didn’t take long until both were sound asleep.

The couple didn’t wake until almost midday. Clarke awoke with a face full of brown hair. It took her a minute to gain her bearings and remember what happened last night.  Raven in bed is a good sign she has slept and relaxed for a couple of hours. 

“Good morning,” Clarke was a little surprised when the voice came from her girlfriend.

“Good morning, have you been awake a while?”

“Not long, I am just too comfortable to mo—mmmm.” Clarke squeezed her tighter and started kissing her neck and dragging her lips over her shoulders. Raven rolled over facing Clarke.  Pulling her into a long kiss, her hands find their way to cup Clarke’s face.  Clarke’s hands exploring Raven’s waist sneaking their way under the hem of her tank top. They breathlessly pulled apart and lean their foreheads against each other.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Clarke gently presses her lips to Raven’s who deepens the kiss. After another minute she pulls away.

“We should probably get up. I need to do some work…” Raven went to roll away only to be stopped by Clarke straddling her hips. “Clarke.”

“You think work can wait a while?” Clarke seductively leans over and whispers in Raven’s ear and runs her lips down her jaw line ending with a kiss on her chin and then to the corner of Raven’s mouth. Raven let out a little moan as Clarke’s hips grind down onto her stomach.

“I suppose I could delay it for a little while.”

It was over an hour before they had settled into the living room.  Clarke had grabbed a book and had her legs under her on the end of the couch.  Raven was on the other side with her attention on her laptop working away giving out occasional grunts of frustration.  She wasn’t solving her problems as fast as she had hoped.

Clarke felt so much for Raven it pained her to see her like this.  Raven had been working on this project so hard for so long it was perplexing Raven didn’t go deeper into a hole than just a couple of hours last night. Clarke new there would more of a fallout from yesterday, but Raven seems much more relaxed after the long night.

Raven needed answers. She had triple checked everything and it was in order.  Why didn’t it go right?  Raven was baffled by what happened and all she wanted was a way to fix it.  The further she went into the results it was getting more confusing as to why it happened. 

Clarke had moved down on the couch after about an hour.  Her head was resting on a pillow and her feet were tucked under Raven’s right thigh as she was still on her computer.  The blonde was fighting sleep when she decided to get up and walk to the kitchen to start a late lunch. 

Raven’s concentration was broken when Clarke set a plate with a sandwich and a beer on the coffee table in front of her. She looks up at Clarke and smiles as she shuts her computer and sets it on the table next to her plate.  Clarke sat down on the couch next to her with her own plate and moved to get comfortable.  Raven turned and leaned in to give Clarke a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks.”

“You needed to take a break.”

“You were right.”

“You still up to go out tonight?” Clarke asked as she took a bite of her own sandwich.

“Yeah. I really want to get out of here and have a good night. I think we both need it.” Raven took a swig of her beer and turns to look over her shoulder at Clarke. “Do you still want to go?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen Harper or Monroe in so long, I would love to go out.” Clarke also wanted to make sure that Harper was okay after the events that had transpired the day before. “Why don’t you shoot Harper a text to let them know we are still in to go out and I will hop in the shower and start getting ready.”

“Perfect sounds good.” Raven was thankful that Clarke still wanted to go out after all that had happened.  She was worried Clarke would shut down going into protection mode and hermit for her weekend off.

Clarke headed back to the bedroom and shut the door.  Raven grabbed her phone and shot Harper a text let her know they were still on for going to Grounders that night. After a few minutes her phone lit up from a text back from Harper telling Raven they were excited to go out and they would see them in a couple of hours.

Raven jumped in the shower after Clarke had started to dry her hair and get ready.  It was just about 8 when they had finished getting ready and about to head out the door. She was dressed in black skin tight jeans with a red loose button up with the top unbuttoned leaving glimpses of her black lace bra. Her hair was straightened and down on her shoulders. She had on a pair of new black heels to top the look off. The blonde appeared from the back room and walked in the kitchen and stopped to stare at her girlfriend.  It took a moment for Raven to realize she was in the room, but after one look at Clarke the feeling was mutual.  Clarke had on a black dress which hugged her curves perfectly. It was sleeveless and covered her chest, but Raven was more interested in how it made her legs look.  Her blonde curls were pulled around and sitting on her right shoulder.

The two stared in silence. Raven couldn’t keep her eyes off of Clarke’s long legs in the blue heels she was wearing and Clarke was sneaking peeks into the opening of Raven’s shirt where she could see her favorite bra.

“You look…” Clarke started.

“Amazing, I know,” Raven finished Clarke’s sentence and continued, “but holy shit babe, you are absolutely gorgeous.” She moved forward placing her hands on Clarke’s waist and leaning in for a kiss. Clarke wrapped her hands around Raven’s neck and deepened the kiss.  A small moan comes from the back of Raven’s throat. A few minutes later Clarke pulls away knowing if they didn’t leave now, they weren’t going to leave at all.

“Let’s go.” She whispers in her girlfriend’s ear.  They grab their bags as Clarke takes Raven’s hand and leads them out the door and into the car.

Grounders is a normal bar and grill during the day, but turns into a dance club after 10pm.  Clarke and Raven arrived at about 8:30 and decided to grab some food before Harper and Monroe would arrive a little bit later.  Dinner was mostly silent with a couple of conversations here and there about family and errand things they needed to do next week.  Both were enjoying their surroundings in the comfortable quiet.

After dinner they moved to the bar to grab a couple more drinks and wait for the other couple. The restaurant was flipped into the club atmosphere by moving tables back and sectioning off an area on front of the DJ as a dance floor. Harper and Monroe arrived just after the transition was made and found Clarke and Raven at the bar.  They greeted each other with a round of hugs and they ordered a round of drinks to start their night.

“Clarke it has been way too long!” Harper yelled over the music greeting the blonde in a tight hug.

“Harper I have missed having you around. Raven pretty much hoards you at work and never brings you around anymore.” Clarke laughed as they turned to the bar to wait for their drinks. She didn’t know how serious this conversation was going to get with Harper.  She knew that the past couple of days have been rough on her as well, but they are here at the club for the same reason.  They were here to take a step back and forget about work for the next couple of hours.

Clarke looked over to Raven who was laughing in conversation with Monroe next to them.  The drinks arrived and they all work making small talk trying to avoid the subject of the tests from the day before. After the first rounds were emptied, the seconds were ordered and delivered. 

“Clarke would you please dance with me?” Raven held out the hand not holding her drink.

“Of course.” Clarke took her hand, allowing herself to be lead onto the dance floor.  She glanced back at the other couple winking as they walked away.  Monroe and Harper laughed as they saw the two move to the dance floor and followed behind.

Raven and Clarke moved to the middle of the dance floor and in the middle of all the other bodies.  The beat was deep and drowning out all other sounds that could be heard from the floor.  They started with space between them facing each other while taking sips from their drinks and getting the feel for the beat.

Clarke downed the rest of her drink and turned setting it on a shelf on the wall near them.  Raven did the same. The beat got faster and Raven was the first one to make contact when she pulled Clarke closer with her hands around her waist grabbing at the seam of her dress. She looked deep into her blue eyes as their bodies met.  Her arms wrapped around the brunette’s neck and she slid her right leg between Raven’s legs. Raven closed her eyes and just felt Clarke dancing against her body.  No other thoughts in her mind besides her girlfriend and the music.  She opens her eyes again to meet the deep blue of Clarke’s.  Clarke leans in and captures her lips.

This went on for the next couple of songs. Clarke looked over and noticed Harper and Monroe had left the dance floor at some point. She spotted Harper’s braids from the bar and walked over with Raven to meet with her. Raven broke off and pointed towards the bathrooms.  Clarke let go of her hand, nodding and continuing to the bar.

“Where did Monroe go?”

“Bathroom.” Harper responded.

“Same with Raven.  You okay?” Harper had just been staring at her drink while sitting at the bar.

“Yeah. I just need another shot.” It was obvious what was on Harper’s mind.

“Hey Harper, I am sorry about yesterday,” Clarke broke the ice about the elephant in the room. “I have never seen Raven like she was last night.  I want to let you know if you have doubts or questions just talk to her.  She knows it messed with you and she cares for you, but you need to talk to her because she won’t approach you with the subject.”

“Okay. I will.” Harper looked up and met Clarke’s eyes. “It really hit Zoe this morning. I had to convince her to still come out this evening.  Could you possibly talk to her? I think you could relate to her feelings about the whole thing.”

“Of course. Did she say anything specifically?” Clarke was worried for her friend. “Does she blame Raven?”

“No, no nothing like that. The risks of the job finally all added up with the scare yesterday.  You had to deal with all the NASA stuff with Raven, but this is the first time for Zoe with all of this.”

“I can definitely talk to her.” Clarke said as Raven and Monroe both came back from the bathroom together. Raven greeted her girlfriend with a kiss.

“Would you want to play a game of pool?” Harper said looking at Raven and Clarke. She pulled Monroe close to her side.

“Sure. What about you Clarke?”

“I think I will just watch.  Why don’t you guys get started I will bring over some more drinks. Monroe, you want to help me?” Clarke figured this was the easiest way to get Monroe alone.

“Alright, sounds good.” Monroe said giving Harper a quick kiss on the cheek. Raven and Harper left moving to the next room filled with dart boards and pool tables.

Monroe turned and flagged down the nearest bartender to put in the order. 

“You having a good night, Monroe?”

“Yeah. I really am. We haven’t been out together in so long. It was good to get out of the apartment and to get Harper away from work.”  It was a good thing she had brought up work on her own. Clarke didn’t want to bring it up out of nowhere.

“Same with Raven. I haven’t seen her work this much in years and that was before we were dating.” Clarke stated. “And let’s just say last night was a rough one in our household.”

“Yeah. Same with us.” Monroe turned to the bar hoping the drinks were ready.

“I have never seen Raven like she was last night.  She ended up in the shop for most of the night as she couldn’t sleep,” Clarke confessed. Monroe wasn’t going to talk until Clarke did. “I finally got her to go to bed after she had a minor breakdown.”

“Last night it was me with the breakdown. Harper was so good through it all, like always.” Monroe told Clarke.

“You were scared.” Clarke knew what Monroe was feeling.

“Yeah. I don’t know how to deal with the risks of their flying.  I have only been with Harper for the last 2 years and most of their work has been on the ground with the new designs,” Monroe said.  “How do you deal with Raven flying so much.”

“I am a worried mess.” Clarke was going to be as honest as possible. “Raven’s phone had died yesterday and I walked out of surgery at 1am last night with no messages from her.  That got me very freaked out. I just remind myself three things when Raven is flying. One, this is her dream and everything she has ever worked for. Two, she is the best there is.  That is the most reassuring thought I have. Three, she will always do whatever it takes to walk through the front door every night.” She hoped this helped Monroe with her doubts.

Monroe was quiet for a minute thinking about what Clarke had just told her. “Those are reassuring thoughts.”  Their drinks had arrived along with two additional shots.  Monroe slides on over to Clarke. “To our crazy sky girls.” This got Clarke to laugh.  They threw back the shots and made their way over to the pool table Raven and Harper had taken over. Raven was just racking the balls as they approached with the drinks.

Raven grabbed her drink from Clarke along with a kiss. Harper and Monroe did the same.  Clarke and Monroe found themselves a couple of seats to bring over and watch the table from the side. They watched the first few shots in silence until Monroe turned to her.

“Clarke, have you ever asked Raven not to fly?”

“Funny you should ask that. Raven’s breakdown last night was about that.  She asked me to ask her to stay grounded. There is no way I could do that it. It is what she was born to do. I can’t stand in the way of that.”

“I have the same feeling about Harper. I was just curious if you had the same thoughts.”  Clarke just nodded and turned back to watch the match.

The pool game finished after another 15 minutes.  For the two exhausted couples it seemed that the night was coming to a close. The four of them walked outside to the cab to share they had called.  The cab dropped off Clarke and Raven at their house before continuing on their way to Harper’s place to drop off the other couple. Raven had hit a wall in the cab and almost fell asleep on Clarke’s shoulder during the short ride.

They made quick work finishing up for the night and went to bed, both exhausted from the past two days.  It wasn’t long until both of them were out for the night.

Sunday passed with the couple being lazy at home.  Raven did some work, but mostly lounged around doing laundry and a little bit of cleaning with Clarke.

Monday morning brought them both back to reality. Clarke was working day shifts until Wednesday when she flipped to night shift for the rest of the week.  Raven also was walking into the huge mess left behind from last week and Anya still wanted to meet with her.

She arrived at work Monday morning greeting Harper at the next desk as she came in.  Raven hung her coat up and dropped her bag next to her desk as she took a seat.

“Tell Clarke thank you for me.” Harper said as she glanced over her computer screen to look at her coworker.

“Sure, what for?”

“She talked to Zoe the other night and it really helped her with what happened and the job.”

“She mentioned that. No problem, she is still figuring it out, but I am glad she could help.” Raven sat down at her desk and started to get to work when Anya came up behind her.

“Can I see you a minute, Raven?”

“Yeah no problem.”  Raven followed Anya down the darker hallway into her office.  After Anya motioned to seat in front of the desk, she sat down at her desk and Raven was across from her.

“Raven, I am going to get right to the point.  You are the best we have. I have put my faith in you for this series. You put that faith on the line on Friday. What happened? How close are we to getting it solved? I have investors up my ass about what happened. I need to know you will be better.”

“Anya, I am not sure on the problem yet, but it can’t take much longer after I have Harper helping me as well.”

“That is not the answer I want to hear! Ark Industries has a level of excellence that has to be met! I can’t have Azgeda beating us to this.  They are already sniffing around trying to get the dirt on us. I need the problem and all the solutions by the end of day Thursday. Also, we will have to discuss the budget for this at that point. Do you think we can still make the next test dates?”

“At this point I need to find the problem, solve it and then engineer it. There is no way of knowing until I have more details on the problem.” It was clear to Raven that Anya was just on edge with others on her ass about this. Raven needed to get to work.

“Raven, I need this genius brain of yours to do its thing right now.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Raven then got back to return to her desk.

Sitting down with a sigh, Raven rested her face in her hands for a moment, before she got going on her work.  Harper noticed, but didn’t say anything. She knew it was best to ignore it, no need to add more pressure to Raven.

“Harper we have a deadline now, let’s get to work.”

“Clarke, babe, time to get up.” Raven was sitting on the edge of their bed and gently caressed Clarke’s cheek with her thumb. “Babe, you’ve got to go to work.”  Clarke started to mumble and wake up.

It was Wednesday night.  Raven had gotten home from work and needed to wake Clarke up so she could make it to work for her night shifts.

The blonde wearily opens her eyes. “Hey, babe,” she leans up and brings Raven down for a kiss. “How was work? I didn’t think I was going to be able to see you until I came home in the morning.”

“Well we made some serious strides today, and I got out a little earlier. Also, I told Harper no matter where we ended up I was going to leave in time to see you before your shift.  It was helpful we figured out the problems and almost have the solutions planned out.  I made it home even early enough to cook some food.”

“YOU SOLVED IT!” Clarke was now fully awake.

“Yep!  We have to finish the solutions planning tomorrow and then we will have to work a bit this weekend to actually engineer and install it all, but yes we did figure it out.”

“That’s great, babe!”

“Get up and I will tell you all about it over some food.” Raven flipped back the bed sheets and patted Clarke’s stomach before standing up herself.

They spent the next hour talking about work eand what they may have missed in the last couple of days after the schedules kept them away from each other for the past couple of days.

Raven ushered Clarke out to her car to bid her goodbye on her way to work.  Raven ended up in her shop finishing her anniversary gift to Clarke for their special day in two weeks.  She was still riding a little bit of adrenaline from figuring everything else at work. After an hour of tinkering and tweaking she called it a night and retired to the bedroom.  It took her a while to fall asleep sans Clarke and from the exciting day, but the next thing she remembered was waking up to Clarke climbing back into bed in the morning.


End file.
